THE mass exodus of key workers from the county could result in regional economic crisis and force the public services sector into meltdown, a report commissioned by Surrey County Council has revealed.

The Cambridge University study proposes a range of actions to counter the trend, including salary increases, increasing the supply of appropriate housing for these key workers through more effective planning policies and using publicly owned land.

It also suggests the encouragement of home-working and company transport schemes and lobbying the Government to recognise the increased cost of housing in Surrey when allocating grants to councils.

The county and the borough are working with other public and private sector partners over the next few months on an action plan.

Statistics compiled by public sector union, GMB, confirm that key workers such as nurses and teachers face an uphill struggle to live and work in Surrey, with the average house costing six times the average wage compared to 4.5 in England as a whole.

As a consequence, they are moving away and having to commute or simply find work elsewhere.

An average house in Surrey costs £191,182, the highest outside London.

With the median wage for nurses being £19,868, and assuming that a person was living with someone earning the same wage, they will fall £91,843 short of qualifying for a mortgage. Similarly teachers are falling almost £73,000 short for a mortgage, postal workers by £95,550, bus drivers by £118,389 and hospital porters by £125,283.

The figures in the table show Surrey relative to neighbouring areas. Calculations are based on the basic multiplier of mortgages of two and a half times joint salary.

"Theoretically, not a single member of the professions named in the survey should be able to live and work in Surrey," a GMB spokesman said. The principal planner for Surrey County Council, Peter Shadbolt, said: "We are seeing real problems with recruitment in public services in the county and unless this is dealt with our ability to provide those services will be affected.

"We know that workers are coming in from the south-west to work. We will be addressing these problems."

Guildford borough councillor Andrew French (Con, Clandon & Horsley) said: "Key workers fall in to a bracket where they are not able to claim affordable housing and cannot afford a mortgage.

"They are basically trapped and do not even have the capacity to rent.

"I would not like to see local authorities footing the bill. Instead we should be encouraging major employers to refurbish properties using private finance."

The chief executive of Guildford Borough Council, David Watts, said: "House prices in 1999 went up 26%.